Everglades Exploration Network 2014 Invitational

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Continuing on a theme of “Invitational” Everglades paddling events, this year’s event was held within an area loosely termed the Bill Ashley Jungles. The trip was organized by contemporary Everglades explorer Terry Helmers of the Everglades Exploration Network. Terry likes to go well off the beaten path and plans these trips right at the start of the Everglades camping season, usually late October or first thing in Novemeber. He promises to never subject paddlers to a “brochure route” and always delivers!

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Some of the past Invitationals that I have had the great pleasure of participating in:

This year we started at the Paurotis Pond, just off the main Park road. It is named after the numerous Paurotis Palms (Everglades Palm) found throughout the area and South Florida in general as a landscaping plant. I guess there’s some question over the pronunciation of “Paurotis” (por-o’-tis). I always thought it was “Pah-roe-tee” as with a Cajun twang, but maybe it is “Pah-roh-tis”? Well the latter makes it sound like some kind of a skin condition, so I personally prefer the former Creole style! 😉

As customary, the Invitational ran from dawn till dusk in the Everglades back country that very few ever get to see, let alone even know about!

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Route of the EEN 2014 Invitational from Paurotis Pond to “about” Hell’s Bay totaled up 11.5 miles of backcountry paddling!

“Amazon” Bill and myself launching into the jungles off Paurotis Pond.

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The highlight of this trip was right at the start! Dubbed the “Widowmaker” by Terry, it’s about a mile of slow going through a maze of mangrove clumps and islets. There’s no real discernible trail, not much water and very little room between the mangrove roots to go through. Sometimes I’d get stuck in what I call “mangrove traps”. The mangroves seemed to want to grab me, or at least pin me in between them. Then, just when I thought I was out – the mangroves would pull me back in! 😉

Whether one could paddle or not in this country depended a lot on the choice of boat. Those with bigger, and especially longer kayaks had to walk more than paddle. For the most part I was able to stay in my boat, although I did have to get out and toss my boat over a few spots. The combination of my 15ft x 22 in wide highly rockered kayak and a short Greenland “storm” stick paddle worked out very well in this type of terrain!

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The “Widowmaker” means pushing, pulling or throwing boats over mangroves when necessary!

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It’s times like this that make for the best selfies!!

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This may look like a mangrove conference, but we’re actually “paddling” the “Widowmaker” stretch here!

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You can see that the mangroves are only 4 to 5 feet tall, so that once you stand up, it’s easy to see further ahead. The “Widowmaker” section was actually scouted out in a previous paddle and documented in this video by canoeist Jay Thomas.

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Good morning – the “Widow maker” welcomes you! Terry Helmers is nearly camouflaged within the mangrove jungle of the “Widowmaker” in this aerial dragonfly view.CLICK for superwide interactive panorama!

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Welcome to the “Widowmaker” says Terry as he directs traffic!

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These low altitude aerial views really show off the mangrove maze that we went through.

It kind of reminded me of playing Pac-Man in slow motion!

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Dragonfly aerial view of the “Widowmaker” maze of mangroves.

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“St. Toby” aka “Whitecaps” in the Bill Ashley Jungles of Everglades National Park. He’s a real swamp angel! It was his first EEN Invitational and he ran it with this race proven kevlar Kruger canoe.

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Once through the “Windowmaker” section, the going got easy enough that we could all get back into our boats and just paddle the rest of the way on a so called “Flamingo Trail”. This also allowed me the freedom to do some more photography..

The Bill Ashley Jungles is an area west of the main Park road roughly between Paurotis Pond and Hell’s Bay, and we were right in the middle of it! Historically these were productive hunting grounds for both Native American tribes and later “Cracker” gator hunters and trappers. This landscape has also changed over the decades, with brackish water intruding northwards, resulting in the predominantly wet mangrove forest habitat that we saw. It certainly did not look like it to us, but back in the 1920′-30’s there was abundant game deer to be had here! Today this is a largely forgotten area, except for the Hell’s Bay Canoe Trail that runs through a part of it. Because of this single trail (probably the most popular paddle route inside of Everglades National Park), the area is paradoxically at once the most visited, yet the least explored.

The Bill Ashley Jungles were named after a band of outlaws who hid out in the Glades in the 1910’s-20’s called the Ashley Gang, led by John Ashley and his “queen”, Laura Upthegrove. Back then almost everything in South Florida was still the “Everglades”, so whether you were in Homestead or Jupiter, you’d still be in the “Everglades”. It was more of a question of how hard it was to get in and out. By 1924 members of the close knit Ashley Gang family were either in custody or dead (or both, according to some accounts!). Bill Ashley, one of John’s brothers was apprehended in January 1924, and was the only one who actually survived the family “business” and then lived out his years in Pompano Beach until his death in 1940.

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The outlaw Ashley Gang in the early 1900’s. Credit: State Archives of Florida, floridamemory.com

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Before there was a War on Terror or a War on Drugs, there was a failed War on Alcohol called Prohibition (1920-1933). In a similar way that today we might see makeshift drug labs “meth labs or crack houses” hidden within our (sub)urban jungle, back in those days there were dozens and dozens of clandestine moonshine operations stashed throughout the real jungle. Bootlegging and Rumrunning were staples of the Ashley Gang, however moonshiners continued to produce illegal and un-taxed home brew liquor into the 1950’s-60’s in some areas. Here’s a fascinating account of a visit to an old moonshine camp in 1949!

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Moonshine whiskey liquor still in the eastern Everglades during Prohibition, circa 1925. Credit: State Archives of Florida, floridamemory.com

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There may still be remnants of old moonshine camps waiting to be found, but the whole area has burned repeatedly after several hurricanes. Also, the widespread practice of making “burns” was successfully used for decades in the Everglades, further reducing the chances of finding anything today.

However on the Gulf coast of Florida in the Ten Thousand Islands, there is at least one real site with a Prohibition era liquor still. If you’re interested, check out these two stories:

One of the reasons this area was favored for moonshine camps is that most were positioned on tree islands within less than a mile from the main Park road (then called the Ingraham Highway), which meant easy transportation to Miami. If there was too much “heat” in Florida City, liquor could be moved along via a different route. In fact the original “Whiskey Creek” which used to run through the Bill Ashley Jungles, was aptly named and enabled transport on a trail that paralleled a so called “reef” line to the east of the Park road, and exited out into Madeira Bay. From there it was easy to reach US 1 by paddling east on Florida Bay. Today the “reef” line is long overgrown, however sections can be explored on the Craighead Pond Canoe Trail east of Nine Mile Pond in the Park.

Continuing along past an intersection of the old Whiskey Creek, we were now on the so called “Rattlesnake Trail”. We didn’t see any snakes nor alligators, but we did see “a wildlife” .. or two, in the form of birds – a Heron and an Egret. Back in the day, Alligator hunting for skins was a way of life for many Gladesmen, and one of the reasons they’d be out there in those remote camps.

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An engraving from 1591 depicts Native American Tequesta or Calusa “savages” hunting alligators akin to slaying of fabled medieval dragons as per European attitudes of that age! Credit: State Archives of Florida, floridamemory.com

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Alligator hunters among black mangroves in the Everglades in 1882. Credit: State Archives of Florida, floridamemory.com

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One of the more famous of gator hunters and Gladesmen was Glen Simmons, who spent much of his time in the Everglades.

Glen Simmons spent most of his life hunting and trapping in the Everglades. A true Gladesman, here he is poling his Glades skiff in the 1990’s. Credit: State Archives of Florida, floridamemory.com

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Meanwhile, back in the Bill Ashley jungles, a different kind of hunting and trapping went on all around us! Innocent looking purple and yellow flowers on the surface of the water were actually the flowers of the carnivorous Bladderwort plants that trap tiny creatures into submerged bladders. They were all over the place, often above mats of Hydrilla and interspersed with lots of Periphyton or “Everglades Cheese” as I call it.

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Bladderworts trap and eat small aquatic creatures with their submerged bladders.

A Lard Can is an all purpose storage container, much like a 5 gallon bucket with a tight fit lid. Sometimes also referred to as “suitcases” back in the day, they were either re-purposed after using up the lard or acquired new. They were used exactly like today’s drybags to hold anything and everything and keep it dry in the Everglades! They fit nicely into the Glades Skiffs or “Pit Pan” gator boats of the time!

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Marker buoy for the Lard Can backcountry campsite.

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Lard Can is an official Everglades National Park backcountry campsite that also happens to be the closest to the main Park road and is thus the first stop on the Hell’s Bay Canoe Trail. We, of course didn’t arrive via any official trail, and in fact did not see any tourists at all! We took about a half hour for a late lunch there. It gives a good impression of a “land” camp in the Everglades, but is often muddy and probably not one the most desirable campsites!

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At the Lard Can campsite, which is basically a large wet and muddy clearing with a small dock.

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I used my stout Greenland “storm” stick, a short version of a regular Inuit paddle. It worked great in the tight confines, much like a canoe blade. In the open stretches, I worked it with a sliding stroke. I am always amazed at the beautifully simple power of the stick!! 🙂

DISCLAIMER:: The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!

You did an awesome job documenting with words and images a very cool trip. You have a gift. And I learned things I did not know. I particularly like the juxtaposition of the images of the moderns paddlers and the Seminoles and old-time gladesmen.